Puppeteer
by Kristi's Stories
Summary: Dylan couldn't rely on the four horsemen to know every step of his grand plan. He needed them to focus on carrying out the grand acts while he got a fifth horsemen. Someone that he could manipulate into doing the small steps for them, all the while staying in the shadows. Dylan knew that by bringing all of them together, they would be unstoppable.
1. The First Contact

_So I hate putting warnings and whatever in the summary because I feel it ruins the summary so here are warnings and things you should know before reading._

_I loved the movie, but I felt that it missed the mark for character development and that more could have been done with the story. Therefore, I will be adding character development to characters already made and adding more scenes that could have lead up the major events in the movie._

_There will be an OC that I created, and it's not JackxOC but it does hint of it here and there depending on how you look at it. This story does not focus on this pairing though._

_Now that that is settled, we can get on with the first chapter. I hope you enjoy and reviews (or criticism) is greatly appreciated._

_-Kristi_

* * *

Daniel couldn't get it up to save his life. This "biggest fan" of his was impressed way too easily and only wanted to be able to say she got it in with an up and coming magician. It was a simple trick, all he had to do was pay the good old fifty and his trick was set off. What was so '_hard'_ about it?

How many men has she slept with without asking for a condom, and what was her name again? Veronica, Becky, Lori…it didn't matter. The minute his eyes laid on that card, the girl's name no longer mattered and honestly, when did she matter? She was a just a random girl off the street.

As he leaned forward, the girl fell to the floor with a loud _thud_ that even scared him for a second.

Whatever.

"You need to leave." He muttered, ignoring the girl completely as he reached out for the card he knew wasn't there when he left. Daniel could hear the girl talking to him, well, more like _whining_.

He picked up the card and inspected it. He heard the girl stomp past him and he muttered not really paying attention to her. "U-uh, don't worry about it. I'll call you." Not.

The girl whipped her head back to look at him with fire in her eyes as she opened the door to his apartment, still half naked. "You don't have my number." She spat at him.

He remembered this feeling with someone else. A girl with long red hair and a glowing smile; completely different from this mattress he picked up. The only thing this mattress and the girl with red hair shared in common was storming out of his apartment, yelling at the top of their lungs.

"I'm magic, I'll find it." He lifted his hand up, face falling flat. "Have a good night."

"You are such an asshole."

Glancing back to his card, he read the word _Lovers_. What a fucking joke.

Jack could still feel the sting of the humiliation from his last trick performed on the boat. He hadn't thought that an asshole would be aboard the boat, waiting to score some money from a kid who was only trying to get by with the one talent he enjoyed most.

His father told him that he would be back from his 'business trip' in three days. That was three months ago. He only left him a hundred dollars, thinking that his son could live off of that in the big city of New York. What an idiot.

Jack had to do something for food and to pay off his father's crappy apartment. Magic earned him some money, but stealing…oh, that got him dinner for a week depending on what he scored.

He was twenty two years old, he should have been in college or doing a job somewhere but here by the bridge as he went through the man's wallet, he felt his stomach turn. It was hopeless. His cousins from Manhattan would be laughing their asses off at him.

They laughed at everything he did. When he mentioned wanting to do magic for a living? Oh you could feel the embarrassment radiating off of him as his relatives told him to grow up and get a reality check. They told him the last thing he wanted to do was end up like his deadbeat dad.

He stopped talking to them after that point. So what if he wasn't overly rich like the rest of them, at least he wanted to do something he loved for a living rather than some boring office job.

Glancing down to the watch he stole off the man's wrist, he smirked as he put it around his own wrist and continued going through the wallet. A solid fifty bucks would do for dinner, he thought as he threw the wallet away, not caring for the credit cards or the photos.

He tucked the money away into his pocket and came to a stop, feeling something odd in his back pocket. He didn't remember putting anything there.

_What the hell?_ He pulled out a card. Inspecting the skeleton printed on the front of it, he felt his heart race. 'Death'.

He remembered a girl he used to play with back in his old neighborhood. Her aunt would earn money by doing tarot readings for people. He never learned the full meaning of death but knew it meant something about big changes, and possibly death itself.

Turning it around, he furrowed his eyebrows together and let out a harsh laugh. Was this some kind of sick _joke_?

Merritt was almost done packing up. All was left was his board which portrayed himself in his golden days. He remembered being wild and free, going wherever the fans demanded. Now, he was no longer the popular man he once was.

Here he was, almost 37 years later doing small tricks on the side, while working as a waiter at a restaurant; which would shortly fire him once they found out the tricks he pulled on customers to get more out of his tip. _What kind of life is this? No family, no permanent career, and no woman to love. Where did time go? _

_Oh right, jail._

The man felt at his thinning hair as he looked down to the picture of himself. Maybe he should consider getting into that hair growth trend all old men have been getting into. Those commercials pimped out those old men as though they were getting all the ladies and opportunities they never got before when they were bald.

Shaking his head, he shoved the board onto the table and turned around, grabbing the tripod. As he bent it into a smaller shape for the bag, he turned back around and saw something had been placed on the board. It was a card of a man in a hooded cloak, with the title of the hermit underneath.

_What in God's name?_ He lifted his head, glancing outside the windows to see if anyone might have placed it and ran. There was no one in sight.

Reading the address, he figured…_what did he have to lose?_

Henley closed her laptop, disgusted with Daniel's 'anonymous' postings on her website. They reminded her of home and that ass of a father who would call her dirty names under his breath, stained with the scent of alcohol. She remembered how he gave her bruises and scars that her counselor would constantly question her about.

She always had innocent answers such as she fell down the stairs or the sidewalk or accidentally bumped herself into a table. As years went by, the counselor could tell she was lying – so she spiced up the lies by saying she was having rough sex with her boyfriend.

Being enrolled in a catholic school with those kinds of answers nearly made her counselor have a heart attack, and did nothing to improve her life at home or in school where boys harassed her every day, seeing what she would do for ten bucks.

The girls didn't like her either, calling her names and telling her to stay away from their boyfriends.

She only had one friend, and that was magic. She liked the feeling of being able to take something as plain as a handkerchief and transforming it into something beautiful like a dove in the palm of her hand.

Magic was her escape from the world – she didn't need to be called those kinds of names anymore, and especially not by her ex-boyfriend.

Henley decided to go out for a few drinks at the bar. Maybe she could find someone to take home, or better, a good bottle of wine.

Walking out of the back room, she looked to the fish tank that 'killed' her tonight. She had to admit, she was impressed with herself. Henley had been planning to do that trick for months but was terrified it would be a big fail and only end up like the audience thought it did - being chewed to death by piranhas.

What a filthy way to die.

As she looked at the deathly fish that stared back at her, she stopped in her tracks.

_A card was inside the god damn tank._

She approached the tank and narrowed her eyes at the card, ignoring the piranhas that bared their teeth at her.

The card showed the high priestess. Henley was never one to learn the tarot meanings but she was always fascinated with the idea of divination from images and symbolism.

Taking a short glance at the address, she smiled to herself – it was time for another adventure.

Felicia moved her long blonde hair out of her face, looking to the other side of the bed at her date. He was passed out; hair tussled and marks all over his body. She rolled her eyes, feeling this was way too easy.

Getting up from his bed, she picked up her black dress and underwear from the floor. As she got dressed, she glanced around the man's room. There wasn't much until she spotted the Alienware laptop and smirked.

Slipping into her heels, she grabbed the plug and the laptop while still scanning the room. Going to his bedside table, she picked up his gold watch and placed that around her wrist.

Felicia looked to her date one more time. He was handsome, yes but his personality lacked. Shrugging her shoulders, she bent down and pecked his cheek good-bye.

Turning around, she stopped in place with her eyes nearly popping out of their sockets. In the middle of the room, a card was floating in air. She walked forward, completely forgetting about the man sleeping behind her.

She took ahold of the card, and inspected the image with her nose scrunched up. Two dogs barking up to the full moon. Underneath the image showed the title of the card as 'The Moon'.

She felt her eyebrow rise in confusion.

"An illusion."

* * *

_It's the first chapter, so don't be too harsh on me. I promise, as the story goes, more will be developed to the characters._

_I hope you enjoyed and again, reviews (or criticism) is greatly appreciated._


	2. Merritt and his Faith

They were bought by the cards that sent them to this mysterious place that stood empty and isolated with just a rose that reminded Henley of her Shakespeare days, acting on the stage as Juliette or a Shrew. "A rose by any other name." She quoted, pickimg up the red rose and placing it down into the vase on the floor.

Felicia asked for them to turn the lights on, to get a closer look at the design on the floor of the apartment. She only heard Jack's reply that the electricity didn't work. Merritt, being the type of man he was, found a way to prove the young man wrong.

Suddenly, a flash of light had bought upon a beautifully designed hologram that wowed the five of them. It was an elaborate plan and Felicia looked right through it.

"It's a show." Henley said softly, awed at the design of the stages. She reached out to a list that flashed up. "Look at all this information. Whoever did this even made a list of our _roles_." She said softly, looking to the other four amazed with the outcome of the cards. This was truly a new adventure.

"It says here that us four…" Merritt pointed to himself and out to Jack, Henley and Daniel. "…Are to be on stage while blondie here works on the details of the shows." He walked over and patted on Felicia's back, never taking his eyes off the hologram.

Felicia glared up at Merritt for the nickname and rolled her eyes. The name-calling on her hair had gotten old once she turned twelve.

Daniel scoffed. "So in other words, the only person_ the eye_ trust to do the details is the con-woman. N-No offense, _clearly_." He said, making Felicia turn red in embarrassment. Coming here was starting to look like a huge mistake until she heard the voice of the youngest there.

Jack looked away from the hologram. "Come on, guys. Leave her alone, how many of us haven't conned a person or two at one point?"

Merritt and Daniel only ignored him and waved their hands in dismissal which made Felicia shake her head and look to Jack with a soft smile. Henley and he seemed to be the only nice ones here so far.

"Guys, whoever it is from _the eye _says that we have to go to a specific location and to bring our cards with us." Henley said, reading the memo off the hologram with narrowed eyes. Damn it, she should have bought her glasses with her.

Merritt shook his head. "Are you saying that whatever this is just some big scavenger hunt?" He asked Henley who shook her head, getting annoyed that the men weren't getting the same adrenaline rush she was getting.

"I'll drive. Let's go." Felicia said taking the car keys she stole from a man in the bank earlier. He was a rich fat cat who would be able to replace the car easily, and convince some other young fool to sleep with him for money. She wouldn't sleep with a man during a scam unless he was attractive and _clean_.

Daniel raised his hand. "I don't trust you."

"Fine, I'll drive." Jack said, smiling at Daniel who only winced at the thought of a young driver driving him and three other people around. Daniel didn't even trust himself enough to drive, he took a cab everywhere.

Daniel shook his head suddenly, looking back to Felicia. "I trust you to drive and not get me killed."

As the group walked out of the apartment, Felicia walked past Jack and murmured a thank you with a wide smile on her face.

X

It was stinky, putrid, and downright disgusting.

The group walked through the passageways of the underground sewage city of New York. Walking for what seemed like miles, Merritt almost had enough. Thank goodness they had finally reached their destination.

They all looked in shock at the wooden crates in front of them. On each crate was some of lock that each one of them tried again and again to open up, but none of them could seem to open these mysterious crates. "This is stupid." Jack muttered under his breath to Felicia who only laughed while the two continued to inspect the crates.

"I still can't believe this happening." Henley said; a smile plastered onto her face. She was filled with an emotion she never felt before and was riding high on a level of adrenaline.

Merritt put his hand up, staying ten feet away from the crates. He felt like the only true adult here while these kids continued to play with the big toy crates that had _the eye_ symbol on them and big red lights that screamed 'NO' to Merritt.

"Whoa, whoa, nothing is happening _yet_. We still have to decide if we're going to do this."

The Little man turned to look at him with a smug look on his face. "What do you mean you mean if; do you know how lucky we are to be chosen for this?" Merritt could have punched him right then and there, did these suckers really believe in such a thing as _the eye_?

Don't get Merritt wrong, he once believed in _the eye_. Every magician did at one point in their careers, but growing up, Merritt could only discover that it was a legend and that Harry Houdini did in fact die, and not get swept up to into some kind of secret society. It was just a legend.

"Do you know how many people get this opportunity?" Henley said, her cheeks starting to hurt from the constant smiling. She wasn't going to allow this man to ruin her day. She had seen Daniel, been chosen to join _the eye_ and damn it, this lipstick was the perfect shade. It was a good day, and no mentalist was going to ruin it.

Jack had ignored the conversation, not caring much for the arguing going on between the three other members of whatever group they just formed by being chosen to join _the eye_. "What? To go to prison in America?" Upon those words, Jack immediately turned his head to the conversation.

Oh boy. "Hey, I don't mean to undermine anybody but are we even sure this is real?" Jack asked, suddenly thinking twice. He couldn't go to jail, he just couldn't. His family would find out and they would talk how he really was like his father. He couldn't.

Merritt shook his head. "Okay, I'm gonna have to go with Doogie Howser on this one. You think about it – You chase a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, and it turns out, poof, oh it's just another illusion."

Daniel shook his head, narrowing his eyes at Merritt for being so incredibly wrong on this; did he not see the opportunity laid out in front of them? At least Henley knew how big of a chance this was for all of them. "No, no…_the eye_ is not an illusion."

"Well it could be a very real, very elaborate hoax." He suddenly turned and pointed to Felicia "And you know I could be right, don't you, blondie?"

Felicia shook her head as if to tell Merritt that this conversation was only between him and the little man.

Merritt stared at the con-woman for a second before shaking his head and turning his attention back to Daniel, feeling as though he was the only one there that understood that this could be a big trap for all of them.

He remembered the years he spent in jail after his deal down in Los Angeles, and though he hated these kids so far, he didn't want them to experience the hell he did.

"Look at what they're asking us to do! I mean, we couldn't even pull off one of those shows, less likely all three."

"We could do it together." Henley said. It seemed to slip Merritt's mind that this grand plan _the eye_ had planned out was meant for all five of them to accomplish together, not just each individual. It would have to be team work that got them to the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

"Yeah, yeah, she's right." Jack said, stuttering slightly. "I've read that initiation into _the eye_ requires complete faith into the host." He remembered being fifteen, sitting in his school's library, and drinking coke under the librarian's nose while reading books on different magic skills.

Somehow he stumbled upon a secret society book. One of the societies that stuck out the most to him was _the eye_.

He remembered the whole chapter on _the eye_ word by word.

"Ah-ah, well see, that's the problem. I don't do faith." Merritt said, done with all this bullshit. These kids could get thrown in jail if they wanted to, but he couldn't take that chance again. If they wouldn't listen, it was their own damn fault.

"Are you really in such a rush to get back to your hypno-act at your all-you-can-eat buffet on your river cruise line?" Henley questioned, following him closely behind.

Merritt turned his head to look at Henley with such hate, Felicia was almost afraid he was going to slap her across the face. Instead, Felicia slapped her hand to her face at his words. "It's not just a good buffet, it's a phenomenal bar."

Daniel suddenly spoke out, making every one jump and looked at him. "Alright, this is bullshit. Look, all the great magicians – I mean the ones who dedicated their lives to this…they know the rumors about _the eye_ but this."

Daniel slowly took out his Lovers card and played with it in his hands, looking up at everyone. "This is a chance to find out if they're actually true…and you want this just as much as we do, Merritt. You know I'm right."

Merritt walked forward to Daniel. "The difference between us is that I don't consider myself a great magician." Taking out his card, Merritt took one last look at it – feeling pathetic that he actually believed such a little thing would give him another chance of finding passion for magic again. "So here, take this and try finding yourself another-"

Merritt found himself speechless as his card suddenly snapped against Daniel's loudly, giving Henley a good jump. They all stared at the two cards; merging while their images suddenly began to cloud and materialize into something new.

Henley took out her card, and nodded at Jack and Felicia to do the same. All three of them _snapped _their cards into the pile, and they watched in awe as a new image came upon the pile of cards.

It was _the eye_.

Suddenly, they heard whirring sounds, beeps and clicks of metal. The five of them glanced up to see the red lights that were once so intimidating to Merritt turn into a green light of 'Yes'. The tops of the crates propped open and allowed the five of them to glance into the unknown.

Felicia stood there, watching as the other four began shuffling through the crates, looking at the props and the scripts and the razzle dazzle for all three shows they would perform. It became apparent in her mind that this was indeed real…and that her first instruction was to find a banker of Crédit Républicain de Paris.

This would be fun.

Sorry if this chapter seems a little rushed. I tried my best to make it somewhat bearable but this is about as best as I could do. This was actually a deleted scene from the movie, and I figured it would be a good development chapter for Merritt and his faith in _the eye_.

Also, sorry if my update was incredibly late, I've been working and…working. I'll try to post more updates soon.

Reviews (and criticism) are appreciated.


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